I have a 94 f-350 7.3 turbo diesel automatic with a blown trani ,second one to go that i know of. I need it to pull my home- a 5th wheel that weighs 9000lbs . AND to be my daily driver (cant afford two vehicals). I was convincinced by mechanic to convert to a 5 speed, so as to not have yet another trani fail.
We found a "doner" truck to pull the barely used 5 speed trani and all the clutch parts from and after getting in to it we found that the flywheel had numerious hairling cracks-funny because the clutch and related parts were all VERY new and this flywheel appeared to be much older. turns out its a dual mass? flywheel. and costs $750 for a new one! a machine shop said they couldnt resurface it as it is too "flexiable" and i can not afford a new one. then they(mach shop) told me that u could switch to a solid flywheel that was less costly. so i looked it up on a local parts store site and punched in the nessessary info on my truck (checked both yrs 94&88doner truck) and it said that the part i was looking at fit BOTH yrs. I orderd it and NOW the mechanic (a 23 yr old) says it wont work, and wants to put the OLD flywheel back on! ?? HERES my Question- Is this OK? if it has these cracks and he originally said "its shot, u need a new one" why would reusing it be ok? he had said that it could break apart and blow my trani to kingdom come. !! now he says they are only "superficial" and it will last thru two more clutches.?? Im so CONFUSED and dont trust this kid anymore, i think he just wants to be done so he can get paid- i NEED a safe and long lasting trani- WHAT DO I DO? HELP!!! i have been without transpertation for almost two months and am dead broke and not able to work till i get ths monster back on the road.

 

I replaced the clutch in my last 89' F150 a few years back and I had the hairline cracks as well along with some glazing on the surface. For safe measure I took it to a shop to have it resurfaced. The tech there told me that the surface cracking is normal and is caused by heat cycles. If you drive hard (which I do) the flywheel heats up more than in normal driving conditions. The expansion and contraction from the heat cycles cause the surface cracks. Usually minor cracks can be machined out when it is blanchard ground. Occasionally however cracks can go deep enough that they cant be machined out without removing too much material rendering the flywheel unusable

 

i think you need to find a new mechanic

 

I was told it CANT be resurfaced, as it is a dual mass and too flexable. the fact that i need a new mech goes without sayin- but i am stuck with this one till job is done! can anyone just answer my question? Please?

 

If the correct one was bought, that single mass should work. They sell kits on ebay to convert these things from DMF (Dual Mass Flywheel) to Single mass.




Re-post this in this forum if you want sure answers.

Pre-Power Stroke Diesel (7.3L IDI & 6.9L) - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

 

I agree, most any flywheel will have surface cracking and they won't blow apart. In "normal" driving, it will last forever. Granted, if you started racing it, abusing it by turning excessive RPM it "could" blow up. Driving it to work and back, no(never once heard of one coming apart driving it normally).

Don't know why you lost 2 transmissions so far? Sounds like faulty work or abusing it(using it beyond it's capability). We have a '95 F250 PSD at work with 275K miles on it, still going strong.

 

The key phrase in your post is "I need a safe and long lasting trans.". If this was a second truck for occasional use it would be a different issue. So your mechanic was probably right to tell you that you needed a flywheel. He may have over dramatized it but sometimes that is necessary to get the customer to make a decision.
Doing a SMF conversion is not uncommon because of the cost and complexity of the DMF unit, provided you don`t mind the extra trans noise at idle.
The SMF that you ordered will do the job but not with the existing clutch assembly so you would have needed to order the complete clutch kit along with the SMF which can be expensive.
There was a thread on another page with a reasonably priced complete kit, I will try to find it for you.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-ebay-dmf.html Here you go.

 

way to deliver lazy k